Sweet Potatoes!

The sweet potato creme brulee at the Rendezvous Bistro is a new favorite. The potato chip pie over at their sister restaurant, The Kitchen, is equally amazing.

“Like pecan pie without the pecans” is how The Kitchen server described their new potato chip pie. I didn’t think anything could top the skillet chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla ice cream there, but a pecan pie without the pecans had the potential.

I’ve always thought suffering through pecans was the cost of eating a pecan pie. But with The Kitchen’s potato chip pie, it seemed I would not have to suffer through the nuts. And it was topped with potato chips!! Even though I’m usually so committed to The Kitchen’s skillet cookie that I don’t even look at the dessert menu, I had to try this new concoction. Especially since, two nights prior, I had had — and been amazed by — the sweet potato creme brulee at Rendezvous Bistro. Fine Dining’s pastry chef knows his way around tubers. (More about the creme brulee in a bit.)

I’m not going to say the potato chip pie is better than the skillet cookie, but it is most delicious. And the server’s description doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It is so much better than a pecan pie without the pecans.

I’ve never had a pecan pie with a crushed oatmeal cookie crust or topped with salted dulce de leche ice cream. And I’ve never had a pecan pie topped with crispy potato chips. I’d dive into a pool of the salted dulce de leche ice cream if I could.

It’s been less than 24 hours since I’ve eaten this pie and reliving it now has me dreaming about my next piece. I swear this dreaming-about-pie is much more a statement on the pie’s deliciousness than on anything lacking in my life.

And then over at Rendezvous Bistro is a sweet potato creme brulee. Now, had I just wandered in there and seen “sweet potato creme brulee” on the dessert menu, it wouldn’t have been on my radar to order. Chocolate belongs in dessert, not vegetables (unless it’s carrot cake smothered in cream cheese frosting).

Before I saw sweet potato creme brulee on the dessert menu, though, no fewer than three separate people had raved to me about it. Three people whose taste buds and sweet teeth I trust implicitly.

And they were not wrong. I liked the sweet potato creme brulee more than regular creme brulee. The first few bites, I did miss the crunchy sugar layer traditional creme brulees have on top, but that disappointment quickly dissipated as flavors of sweet potato goodness caressed my taste buds. It wasn’t overly sweet and it was perfectly custard-y.

I never thought I would say these words, but “Long live potato desserts!”